


negotiation tactics

by jesuisdeux



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: Clone Wars (2003) - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Ahsoka Tano Needs a Hug, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Crash Landing, Death, Emotional Baggage, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Father-Daughter Relationship, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Grand Master & Grand Padawan Bonding (Star Wars), Grandparents & Grandchildren, Late Night Conversations, Light Angst, Master & Padawan Relationship(s), Mentioned Anakin Skywalker, Moral Philosophy, POV Ahsoka Tano, Philosophy, Planet Melida | Daan (Star Wars), Sabacc (Star Wars), Talking, The Force, Timeline What Timeline, War, a bit - Freeform, mentions of - Freeform, something like that, survivor's guilt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-30
Updated: 2021-01-30
Packaged: 2021-03-16 22:39:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,426
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29089920
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jesuisdeux/pseuds/jesuisdeux
Summary: "The Force is not that kind." she concluded finally, not realising her bitter honesty at first.Master Obi-wan wouldn't get angry or anything, she knew that, but he was definitely more... faithful than Skyguy, perhaps it wasn't very clever of her to speak her mind, not that way, at least.So she did expect the same bitterness as a comeback, naturally. A reprimand, perhaps. A lecture.She hadn't expected him to chuckle.orObi-wan and Ahsoka talk about life and stuff™ because Obi-wan knows what it is to be a child soldier.
Relationships: Obi-Wan Kenobi & Ahsoka Tano
Comments: 10
Kudos: 133





	negotiation tactics

**Author's Note:**

> ahsoka feels guilt at first and there is ambigous deaths which I do not clarify, so it is not a dark story tho there is some background violence and she feels a bit down. except that, i aimed it to be light-hearted. just let this father and daughter to be happy god dam

One would expect to see a new sunset to be a beautiful experience.

One would be wrong.

Or maybe not that wrong. It was still beautiful, with its purple, orange colours. With its unique sun, going down. This sun was different than Coruscant’s, it was burning with a different gas, or something like that. It was beautiful. Ahsoka wasn't enjoying it, she _couldn't_... It still was, nevertheless.

But it wasn't restful, or calm, or anything resembling a silent kind of happiness. That contrast was what making Ahsoka angry.

And silence... There was no silence, even when there was. She could still hear the noises of conflict: The non-stop blaster fire, remorseless battle cries, and then real cries from real wounds, then... Then silence. The silence, calm but only calm because the storm is coming. Or in that case, because storm is continuing. Counting ammo, loading gun, keeping on.

Now, resting her head in the chest of his grand-master, watching the sun going slowly and gracefully down... She could still hear the noises. Because she was lucky enough to stay alive to watch the sunset. The word "unfair" wandered around her mind, stinging her sense of justice in a way she couldn't quite put her finger on it.

There was no peace, nor justice. And silence and beauty and everything she possessed right now... They all seemed wrong.

"The Force is not that kind." she concluded finally, not realising her bitter honesty at first.

Master Obi-wan wouldn't get angry or anything, she knew that, but he was definitely more... _faithful_ than Skyguy, perhaps it wasn't very clever of her to speak her mind, not that way, at least.

So she did expect the same bitterness as a comeback, naturally. A reprimand, perhaps. A lecture.

She hadn't expected him to chuckle and say: "Hmm, very controversial, I see."

"But I hope this... _undelight_ doesn't come from your ankle?" he asked then, with an undertone of worry. "Does it hurt?"

No, her ankle was terribly fine and it only made her feel worse. Her ankle was perfectly healthy, thanks to her grand-master's healing capabilities and it broke her heart too. Her healthiness was just as beautiful as the sunset. And it was just another word for _infuriating and unjust_.

"No," she said, aiming to calm his worry, "it is completely fine, thank you master."

"Ah, it was nothing. How is your head? Do you have a headache?"

She raised an eyebrow at the inquiry. "No, not at all." Except the lingering noise, of course, it wouldn't shut up, but it wasn't from concussion, she knew that. It was the effect of having an awful, awful day. Sitting beside their crushed ship, or what remained of their crushed ship, death toll still on her mind…

"If you feel like you need to-"

"Master, I am fine," she said, weary, but with a little smile on her face, "I am not going to puke on your robes, I promise."

"Well," he throwed his hands up slowly, showing his innocence. "Better safe than sorry." She couldn't see his face but she could hear the smile. The worried smile. Her grand-master's trademark.

"So," he started, "My poor grand-padawan just spoke of the most interesting philosophical debates of... I am not sure, history? And she is very unaware of her grand-master's very long oncoming speech."

She laughed at that, shyly, at first. For a second, it felt like clouds lifting. Figuratively. But perhaps clouds indeed was lifting. Not that it would help them to get warm, the sun had already left them, her finger tips were getting cold. She tried not to think about where Skyguy could be at the moment, or precisely how many lightyears far away from them he would be, exactly. Rescue was coming. _Hopefully._

"I also thought the same thing. When I was, say, your age."

And it brought her thought back to present, them leaning backwards on a... hangar door, probably, half buried in the soil. Stretching their leggings forward, silently waiting. She expressing her _undelight_ at the Force. Blasphemously. Was he going to dismiss it as teenager nonsense? But Ahsoka had the horrible feeling that it wasn't just her adolescence but something more permanent than that. How... _dreadful_. But Force _was_ unkind. She couldn't run away from this thought. Not after... everything. After the war.

"Of course, no one just says that. Not without an experience, anyway." her grand-master spoke, reflecting her thoughts. "Not without living through bad things. Today wasn't really a good day, was it?"

"It definitely wasn't." Ahsoka mumbled, eyes landing on the distant hills. "And… I think the Force is not good, especially... when I think it is not worth it."

"Well," A sigh, and a search for the right word. "The war is definitely not kind." he replaced Ahsoka's word _‘The Force’_ with _‘the war’_ deliberately. "I may be understanding you," said then, hesitantly. "I have been in one too, at your age, not that big but... War is not that kind, especially when you are a teenager."

Ahsoka abruptly lifted her head from his chest, turning to his face. She didn't know his grand-master also fought a war. When he was young. But to begin with... she didn't know much at all about her grand-master. _Not that big._ Yes, she didn’t remember anything from history lessons where Jedi interfered. _But unkind still._

His eyes contained a weird sadness, but not hopelessness. "Being young and fighting a war that doesn't belong to you..." he trailed off. There was no need to complete that sentence. Because those were two things never meant to be in the same sentence at all. But he was fast at collecting himself back, shrugging.

"So, yes, I better get to the point. Sometimes the Force seems so cruel, if the will of the Force is _this_."

Ahsoka nodded, that was it, and it hurt. "Just... The Force can't be that good, if... if... everything happened that day! And many more!"

Obi-wan's lips became a thin line with her outburst and if Ahsoka didn't know any better, she would say it was anger. Not towards herself, no, never towards herself, but towards the responsible ones of the situation. And then it was gone as it came. He nodded with understanding.

"I was also disappointed in it." he continued calmly. "In the Force. In... life. In... everything. But a very wise man always said, _‘Your focus determines your reality.’._ It is easy, even... natural to say that on that planet, here, next to our crushed ship. It is also natural to be disappointed."

He stood up, holding his abdomen with a strict face, and started slightly limping towards the wreck of the ship, changing his direction between the broken but giant ship parts. “I am not done yet!” he called out, making Ahsoka smile, who was watching him go with a curiosity, he was the one suggested to stay away from the ship, because it could explode.

Disappointment was normal, then. She folded her arms. Disappointed in life, she wasn't, actually. She was mostly angry. And hearing it from her grand-master was surprising, a bit. She didn't expect a personal story reveal, no, not at all.

But it helped. Struggle was normal, it seemed so, and it _helped_.

Obi-wan came back, dragging a red bag. An emergency kit, she realised, with more ration bars he had brought before, with some medicine and other things she couldn't quite make it. A heavy one, clearly, with more supplies that would do for a longer time, as he breathlessly said, "It seems our little visit might take longer than we estimated."

She realised that much, they were going to find out the night temperatures of this planet. At first hand.

"Luckily, we sent a signal just outside the system," she said. "If they can track it down, it wouldn't be hard to find us."

"It was no luck," he dug up the bag for a while and smiled when he found a blanket, "It was your practical thinking, padawan." He then wrapped the blanket around her. Those blankets were like the ones in the Temple but something _electrical_ and looking shiny like a durasteel.

And warm.

Beautifully warm. And disgustingly so, at the same time, warm as dead bodies could never be. Guilt knotted Ahsoka’s stomach for a second but she still raised her head.

"Thank you, master." she said, both for the praise and the blanket.

When Obi-wan settled down again, "I have saved the best for the last, Ahsoka," he smiled. “After _everything_ ,” so everything here means a war, thought Ahsoka, “when I was back at the temple, I thought about one thing. Maybe the Force is not good. Get ready. And maybe it doesn't have to be."

Now Ahsoka's mouth was practically open, gaping. It was... extreme, to say the least. It looked conflicted with what she learned since her birth, in a way. But was it?

"It sounds... _interesting_ ," she said.

“Is ‘interesting’ just another word for ‘troublesome’?” her grand-master asked, laughing. “Well, I think so too, it is interesting and definitely very _different_ than what Master Zaegna talks about in her books. But it doesn’t oppose the core of what we stand for. If anything, it supports it, I think.”

Stars of this planet, wherever this is, started to shine. Well, stars didn’t belong to any planet and they simply only existed, their beauty was merely a side effect. And again, they didn’t start, they always were shining, of course only visible with the set of the sun.

“So, yes, I don't think the Force should be good. I don't think the Force should be anything. And I promise it is not blasphemy. The Force is not a nursemaid. Nor it is a tormentor, no.” He then drew his leg to his chest, untying his boot and tying it again, to occupy his hands. Force didn’t intend to do anything, then. It was a bit weird, because the will of it wasn’t precisely perfect, then. “It can have the moral consciousness of a sea at most, I think. A lake, maybe. And... it is not that bad. In the end. The Force is not polite, it doesn't have to be, but you are. You are good, Ahsoka. We are good, or we try to be. People all around the Galaxy. Life may not be very fair but we can make it that way, with the help of the Force. What do you say?"

"I say it is definitely a better point of view." It was. Because not being good wasn't the same as being purposefully bad. What would manners mean to a universal and connective divine vitality? Yet...

"But...?" Obi-wan prompted gently.

"And it is helpful, really!" she rushed, conflicted.

He patiently waited for her to choose the right word. Change, she chose, because... change seemed important.

"But it doesn't _change_ what happened."

"No," he agreed, gaze distant, and mind as far away as gaze, "It doesn't."

Hands reached to her shoulders, grip firm. Something was very definite in his face, something resolute, as if he just realized something horribly wrong and decided to correct that. Perhaps he just did. "Ahsoka, you should listen to me very carefully, alright?"

She lifted her gaze to meet his gaze, the very worried two eyes of a parent. "One should never, ever feel regret or shame about being alive, do you understand me? You tried all you could and you have done very good today, remorse is not required. Nothing bad happened is your fault, alright?"

“I know that,” she started. She knew that. But it also didn’t seem to change the outcome. “But I… I didn’t succeed. At… at keeping everyone alive and-”

“We just said the Force does not have to be good,” Obi-wan cut in, “and you talk about decisive success. Hmmm, see yourself above the Force, do you, padawan?”

_This_ , stopped Ahsoka. Not only his grand-master’s terrible imitation of Master Yoda but also… the weight she put on her own shoulders she didn’t even realise its existence. _This_ , she didn’t think before. _This_ , made sense. A bit. This, changed things. She didn’t see herself above the Force. She hadn’t realise her impossible own stakes-

“You don’t have to succeed all the time, trying is enough.” Obi-wan exhaled, and waited for a few second, wanting to emphasize that. “And I prefer my grand-padawan with me, alive, thank you very much.”

“I-” she started, not knowing what to say. She leaned back, raised her head to the sky.

Of course, it was logical. And it also was a very basic but good window to look at the universe. Simple, and peaceful enough to live by. And by all meanings, compunction over being alive wasn’t going to get her anywhere. Nor her unnecessary self-derogatory. Stars were beautiful, especially this far away from Coruscant’s light pollution, just like the moment before the hyperspace jump, but without the motion sickness. Stars were beautiful and Ahsoka knew better than to look at them and feel remorse.

“Alright, master. This is logical.”

“Of course, it is. Not to boast but my Logic Skills and Critical Thinking grades were-”

But Ahsoka was laughing uncontrollably right now, “Okay, let us not mind my incredible grades, then.” her grand-master stopped. “Does Master Fehlul still teach that lesson?” he asked instead.

“No master,” Ahsoka shook her head. “I took that lesson _after_ the Ruusan Reforms, not before that.”

“Ha-ha, very funny,” Obi-wan arched an eyebrow teasingly. “And I am not _that_ old. But if you want me to prove it-”

“Oh, I definitely do,”

“I see,” he reached to the bag, again searching for something, with his most ‘You wanted this,’ face. His hands came back with a sabacc card deck. “I will not negotiate my win.”

“So, will you negotiate your lose, master?”

He made an offended face, betrayed, even, his hand went to his heart. “Out of the question. But along the way I hope to teach you a few tactics. Tactics which we will use _against_ Governor Hakanis in our negotiation.”

He extended the cards, with a bright smile on his face.

It… would be good. Terribly good. They were going to give all the responsibles of all of it a rough time. And they could start doing so by playing one game, waiting for the rescue to arrive. So she reached up to the first cards, feeling more light-hearted than before. Her grand-master’s perfect sabacc-face during the negotiations, after all, always had piqued her interest.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you so much for reading. 
> 
> i have no idea what english language even is so if you spot a mistake pls tell me, grammatical or about meaning, or anything!


End file.
